Biography of C. E. Thorkelson

C. E. Thorkelson, deputy health officer of Racine, was called to this position on the 1st of June, 1914, and in the intervening period has made a most excellent record by his devotion to the interests of the city which come under his control and supervision. Racine numbers him among her native sons who are of Norwegian lineage and who possess the sterling characteristics of the people who have come to us from the land of the midnight sun. He was born in this city February 25, 1885, a son of Mathias and Mary (Eggers) Thorkelson, both of whom were natives of Norway, whence in early life they came to the new world, their marriage being celebrated in this city. Mrs. Thorkelson arrived in 1862 and it was at an earlier period that Mathias Thorkelson reached Racine. He devoted his life to mechanical pursuits and was superintendent for the B. B. Manufacturing Company for several years, in which he made the famous B. B. cart for the race horse, “J. I. C.” He has now passed away, but the mother is still living

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When a little lad of six years C. E. Thorkelson entered the public schools and mastered the work of successive grades until, having passed the required examinations, he was graduated from high school with the class of 1901. His further preparation for life’s practical and responsible duties was made as a student in the State University at Madison, where he completed a course in bacteriology in 1906 and won the Bachelor of Science degree. He then went to Elkhorn, Wisconsin, where he was employed upon a farm in his professional capacity for two years, after which he returned to Racine and accepted a position with the Mitchell-Lewis Motor company in the employment and pay-roll department, continuing in that connection until the 1st of June, 1911, at which date his professional training was called into further play by his appointment as food inspector for the city of Racine under the hoard of health. Three years after he was made deputy health officer in charge of the department of health and has so continued.

Mr. Thorkelson maintains an independent course in regard to politics, believing it wise to hold one’s self free from party dictation, yet he does not hesitate at any time to support his honest convictions, and the principles which govern his conduct are largely manifest through his membership in the Masonic fraternity and in the Methodist Church.